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| Nigeria Medical Association |
At the Church of Christ in Kado, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association opened its 2026 Physicians’ Week with a blunt assessment of the conditions under which doctors practice.
Dr George Ebong, the recently elected FCT NMA chairman, told the gathering that Nigerian physicians are overwhelmed by inadequate facilities, severe personnel shortages, poor remuneration, and equipment gaps that make saving lives an uphill battle.
The national theme for the week—“Securing the Future of Medicine in Nigeria”—captures a profession at a crossroads. Across state chapters, from Ogun and Kwara to Kaduna and Rivers, NMA leaders have used the annual observance (running roughly mid-to-late October) to demand systemic change rather than another cycle of temporary palliatives. The national kickoff in Delta State, led by NMA President Dr (Prof) Afekhide Ernest Omoti, set the tone for branches and the FCT to follow. @nard_nigeria
Ebong’s remarks cut through the ceremonial atmosphere. Doctors, he stressed, operate with tools and staffing levels far below what is required. Beyond low take-home pay and an unfavourable salary structure, they confront daily shortages of functional equipment and infrastructure. “Doctors are humans. We face daily challenges like other Nigerians. Don’t put blame on us but the government,” he said. The original reporting noted Nigeria’s ratio of one doctor for more than 6,000 people—already far from recommended international benchmarks.
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The Numbers Behind the Crisis
Independent data paint an even grimmer picture, with estimates varying by source and methodology but consistently showing severe understaffing. The World Health Organization has long referenced thresholds around one doctor per 600–1,000 people (or roughly 10–17 doctors per 10,000 population) for adequate coverage; a basic needs threshold is often cited near 4.45 per 10,000. Nigeria falls well short.
Recent figures illustrate the scale:
• Practising doctors reportedly dropped from about 66,000 in 2024 to around 55,000 in 2025—a nearly 17% decline in one year, according to Federal Ministry of Health-linked data. External migration surged dramatically.
• The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors has cited a ratio of roughly 1:9,083. Other assessments place it between 1:3,500 (as stated by a health minister in late 2025) and 1:4,000–5,000 nationally, with far worse figures in northern states—sometimes one doctor for 20,000, 40,000 or more people.
• Some analyses put the national average even higher in practical terms, exceeding 1:15,000 in certain reports, reflecting uneven distribution and inactive licences.
The human cost is measurable in outcomes: high maternal mortality, life expectancy hovering near 55 years in some accounts, and preventable deaths from conditions that better-resourced systems manage routinely. Urban teaching hospitals and southern states fare better than rural and northern areas, where insecurity compounds the shortage. Health workers have been kidnapped and attacked; facilities become soft targets, accelerating both external “japa” migration and internal flight from high-risk postings.
Ebong himself, who previously chaired the FCT Association of Resident Doctors before winning the NMA FCT chairmanship in July 2026, has spoken earlier about retention. In his inaugural comments, he identified the search for greener pastures as a primary driver of emigration and urged the government to prioritise welfare so doctors can find opportunity at home. He has also advocated treating private hospitals as partners rather than competitors in filling care gaps.
Why the System Is Breaking
The challenges Ebong listed—facilities, personnel, pay, equipment—are interconnected symptoms of deeper structural failures.
Underfunding and policy inconsistency remain central. Nigeria’s health budget has consistently fallen short of the 15% of national budget pledged in the 2001 Abuja Declaration, often landing in the 4–5% range. Out-of-pocket spending by patients exceeds 70% in many estimates, pushing families into poverty and driving medical tourism that drains an estimated $1–2 billion annually. Primary healthcare, the foundation of any resilient system, is frequently under-equipped and understaffed.
Workloads and burnout are extreme. Resident doctors have reported averages exceeding 100 hours per week in some periods, with continuous calls that associations have begun restricting for safety. Sudden deaths and collapses among physicians have been linked by NMA voices to exhaustion, cardiovascular strain, and inadequate support. Sub-themes emerging in some state programmes this year explicitly address “Saving the Savers”—protecting physicians from burnout, disease, and premature death.
Insecurity and infrastructure deficits make retention harder. Banditry and kidnappings deter postings to underserved regions. Hospitals struggle with power (diesel generators driving up costs), obsolete or absent diagnostic and surgical equipment, and delayed salaries or arbitrary deductions reported in places like Kwara.
Training and pipeline issues compound the problem. While universities are being pushed to increase medical school output—President Tinubu has called for far higher annual production of doctors—the system loses large shares of new graduates to emigration almost immediately. Letters of good standing requested for overseas practice have numbered in the thousands annually.
Similar alarms rang this week from other chapters. In Kwara, the NMA chairman described doctors as “underpaid, overworked and over-deducted,” with some general hospitals left with only a handful of physicians. Ogun’s leadership demanded clear, measurable, adequately funded policies and urged 2027 election candidates to centre healthcare financing, professional welfare, and universal coverage in their platforms.
Kaduna’s chapter highlighted a drop in licensed doctors and the need for security, competitive pay, and modern training that incorporates digital health and AI without losing the human core of medicine.
Beyond Blame: Pathways Forward
Ebong’s insistence that government, not individual doctors, bears primary responsibility is widely shared across the profession. Yet solutions require more than higher salaries alone.
Experts and associations point to a package of measures:
• Competitive, regularly reviewed remuneration indexed to inflation, plus timely payment of arrears and allowances.
• Investment in infrastructure, equipment, reliable power, and safe workplaces.
• Accelerated, less bureaucratic hiring and expanded residency posts, especially in depleted specialties and regions.
• Stronger security for health facilities and personnel.
• Expanded health insurance to reduce catastrophic out-of-pocket costs and create sustainable financing.
• Partnerships with private providers and structured engagement with the diaspora (“brain circulation” rather than pure drain).
• Curriculum updates for digital tools, telemedicine, and data systems while protecting professional ethics.
• Treating healthcare as national security and economic infrastructure, not a residual budget item.
Some states have experimented with improved welfare packages that local NMA branches have welcomed as steps toward retention. Nationally, collective bargaining agreements have faced repeated delays, feeding frustration and industrial action risks.
The 2026 Physicians’ Week arrives as Nigeria approaches another election cycle. NMA voices across chapters are explicitly calling on political parties to elevate health in their manifestos. Without sustained political will, the arithmetic is unforgiving: a shrinking active workforce cannot stretch indefinitely across a population exceeding 220 million.
Doctors remain on the front lines, often improvising under constraints that would be unacceptable in better-resourced systems. Ebong’s reminder that they are human—subject to the same national pressures as their patients—underscores a basic truth. A health system that burns out and drives away its physicians ultimately fails the people it is meant to serve.
Securing the future of medicine in Nigeria will require more than annual commemorations; it demands the consistent investment, protection, and policy coherence that the profession has long requested and that patients desperately need.
Samuel O. Sulaimon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Naijapiz. He covers News, Sports, Finance, Faiths, Education, Politics and Technology.
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